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NYC Mosques 
There are over 100 mosques in the five boroughs
of New York City, of which no more than half a dozen can be said to
have been designed as mosques from the outset. The rest are storefront
buildings, lofts, stores, warehouses or private homes that have been
converted to mosques. Scholar Jerrilynn D. Dodds and photographer Edward Grazda document the Islamic presence in New York in their upcoming book, New York Masjid/Mosques of New York, which will be published by powerHouse Books in May.  
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Essays  Kabir
Carter, Assistant Producer for "This Was My City, Too," reflects on the process of creating this documentary. "In speaking and meeting with individuals in both Arab and South Asian communities, I assumed that my being (seen by most as) a minority would make me an empathetic listener by default. Instead, I found myself unprepared for the awkwardness I would feel as an outsider to what has been happening in these communities." Reporter Jad Abumrad 
conducted interviews for "This Was My City, Too." In the end, the microphone was turned around to him and he reflected on Arab-American identity. The Double-Bind by Shiva Balaghi Many of us who are immigrants to this country have left behind horrific lives; we Americans of Middle Eastern heritage are often avid consumers of the mythical American dream. Having come from countries with autocratic regimes, we believe that the Bill of Rights is an unshakable document, that we are now living in that "city on a hill." Now it seems the lines are being drawn and that our skin color and faith make us suspect and dangerous—outsiders in our own homeland.  Less
Successful Than the Next: South Asian Taxi Drivers in New York City
by Elizabeth Kolsky Examines the history of South Asian taxi drivers in New York City against the backdrop of U.S. immigration legislation, communities of financially more successful South Asian immigrants and the changing face of the cab industry. "The Silencing of Political Dissent: How the USA PATRIOT Act Undermines the Constitution" by Nancy Chang and the Center for Constitutional Rights "The Administration's blatant power grab, coupled with the wide array of anti-terrorism tools that the USA PATRIOT Act puts at its disposal, portend a wholesale suspension of civil liberties that will reach far beyond those who are involved in terrorist activities. |
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Resources VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES Amnesty International USA Includes information on AIUSA's position on detainees. Probono.net Lists of ways you can get involved in providing legal and other support. Substantive materials and other resources to help you once you have become involved in a project. Contact information for appropriate city, state, and federal government agencies that are providing benefits and services to those affected. Arab American Institute Serves as a clearinghouse for Arab American participation in national, state and local politics and government. NYC ORGANIZATIONS Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) Visits detainees and acts as conduit between them, lawyers and loved ones. DRUM also stages weekly protests at INS centers and assists speakers of Tamil, Bangla, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and other South Asian languages. Justice for Detainees Coalition This organization has been holding weekly demonstrations outside the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Contact: Martha Cameron at fmlink@igc.org American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee This Washington DC-based organization recently opened a NY Chapter office. Contact: Monica Tarazi at mtarazi@adc.org Arab-American Family Support Center Contact: Emira Habiby-Browne at aafsc@aol.com Brooklyn Bridges Contact: Abby Scher at abbyscher@mindspring.com Brooklyn Parents for Peace Contact: David Tykulsker at david@dtesq.com or bpfp@hotmail.com Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants Contact: chri@itapnet.org or nlgmember@nlg.org Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Contact: Omar Mohammedi at omohammedi@otmlaw.com Freedom Legal Defense and Education Project Contact: Norman Siegel at siegelnorman@aol.com Help & Hope Provides relief, immigrant rights information and emergency help to detainees, their families, and the Pakistani community, which has been especially hard hit by the current crisis. Contact: Dr. Monsoor Khan at 917-843-4314 Islamic Council of North America (ICNA) Contact: Adem Carroll at iamourhaj@aol.com NYC Labor Against War (NYCLAW) A coalition of thousands of labor activists who have signed on against the war. Contact: Michael Letwin at letwin@alaa.org Voices for Peace and Justice. Contact: Nancy Hoch at nancyhoch@yahoo.com Commission on Human Rights A program of the Mayor's office. You can call to lodge a complaint of racial discrimination. They will help assess your legal standing and, if necessary, help you find a lawyer. Contact: 212-306-7450 GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AND SERVICES The Community Relations Service (CRS) Can provide expert guidance and assistance to community officials and civic leaders concerned about incidents or other hate activities in the aftermath of the World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks. CRS Regional Offices will provide mediators free of charge to help communities respond effectively to reported incidents, tensions and conflicts. Please contact the nearest CRS Office for assistance. Contact: Martin Walsh at 212-264-0700 New York State Department of Labor Contact: Certification office at 212-621-9330 or the US Department of Labor office at 212-337-2185 INS U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service Department of Justice The Terrorism Aftermath site contains the Attorney General Statements, Legal Documents, FBI Alerts, Press Releases, as well as information on Civil Liberties, Immigration Courts, and links to other federal sites. COMMUNITY LINKS Study Circles Resource Center Information and several publications on how to conduct community racial dialogues in the aftermath of the burning of black churches, following hate incidents, and in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11th. |
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Lawyer and poet Lawrence
Joseph gives an account of early Arab immigrants in New York and
reads from his work, "Sand Nigger."
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Reporter Jad Abumrad speaks with oud maker and artist Najib Shaheen about the contradictions in his own path of assimilation and changes that have occurred in how others see him.
Najib: "I want to be American, but what is an American? To eat eggs and bacon? To watch Rambo?"
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Jad interviews Shiva Bhalagi, Associate Director of Near Eastern Studies at
New York University, about both the confusion surrounding the variety of identities that comprise the Arab-American community and her personal feelings about what is happening to Arab-Americans. Shiva: "My own immediate reaction was the notion of a split screen...you compare what's happened to what's happened…before you came to the U.S."
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Jad visits the Islamic Society, a mosque in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, where he talks with both the mosque's Imam and Abdul Malik, that day's speaker during prayer service. They discuss the atmosphere in their community since September 11th.
"What do you think, Jad? Do you blend in?"
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The Arab-American Family Support Center, as the only social service organization of its kind in New York City, has been receiving calls from detainees' loved ones for several months. Dahlia Eissa, their Legal Services Coordinator, talks about the kinds of calls they have been receiving.
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| Passaic and Hudson counties' Detention
Centers are holding those arrested after September 11th. An Amnesty
International delegation describes their experience of visiting detainees
at the Hudson County Correctional Center. Amnesty International USA: "It takes so much to put together an international delegation and we're given so little time."
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A former detainee, under the condition of anonymity, talks with Jad about how he ended up in detention and why he was released.
Former detainee: "In the jail, when we got there, they said, 'Welcome to America.'"
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Reporter Nafisa Hoodbhoy, a journalist from Pakistan, speaks with South Asians in New York, beginning with Farooq Khattak, a taxi driver.
Farooq: "I have two emotions: one is guilt, the other is anger."
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Nafisa visits taxi driver organizer Bhairavi Desai at the offices of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, where they discuss the specific ways that primarily South Asian taxi drivers have become scapegoats in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks.
Bhairavi: "Since September 11th, the yellow cab itself has become a symbol of Islamic people, and certainly brown-skinned people."
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| Karim Mohammed, one
of the owners of Taste of Tandoor restaurant on Church Street, had
to flee his business on September 11th. While he has not been harassed
in Manhattan, the situation has been different for him in Queens,
where he lives. Karim Mohammed: "Somebody was pushing me, like this, on the street."
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Nafisa journeys to Coney Island Avenue, the heart of the Pakistani American community in New York. Many members of the community are concerned about FBI actions. While there, she visits the New Punjab Grocery, one of the first Pakistani businesses established here.
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Biju Mathew, a professor who writes on South Asian urban and social issues, asserts that the randomness of FBI searches has left immigrant communities feeling vulnerable and frightened.
Biju: "There's a particular kind of a regime of terror that's being spread around."
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| DRUM, a
South Asian community group that has established a campagin to aid
immigrants held by the INS for alleged immigration violations, organized
a meeting to highlight the plight of detainees"
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| Mary Jo White,
the recently retired District Attorney for the Southern District of
New York, feels that the security measures that have been taken are
justified and reasonable. White: "The claims of abuse are really quite exaggerated from at least my knowledge..." |
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Nafisa travels to Bayonne, New Jersey to meet with Usma Naheed. Usma's husband and brother have been in detention for several months and she has had to sell almost all of her possessions in order to survive.
Usma: "My family is ruined almost. My kids are ruined—they don't care about anything now."
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| INS spokesman Russ Bergeron
explains the INS' rationale concerning the indefinite detention of
Arab and South Asian immigrants who have violated INS regulations.
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Mohammed Bilal Mirza's uncle Rafiq Butt, who was detained, did not get a chance to see a lawyer. After he was missing for 25 days, his family was told that he died while being held in detention.
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Funding is provided by the Carnegie
Corporation, the Overbrook Foundation and the Rivendell Foundation.
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(Photo credits: Vanessa Bertozzi, except self-portrait of Jad)
© WNYC 2002